BULLETS AND BADGES: UNDERSTANDING THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN CULTURAL COMMODITIES AND IDENTITY FORMATION IN AN ERA OF GAZA VS. GULLY: A JAMAICAN “RURAL” ETHNOGRAPHY A Dissertation Submitted to the Temple University Graduate Board In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY by Sally A. Gould-Taylor May 2016 Examining Committee Members: Novella Z. Keith, Advisory Chair, Urban Education James Earl Davis, Urban Education Will J. Jordan, Urban Education Jayminn Sulir Sanford-DeShields, External Member, College of Education, Temple University i ABSTRACT This ethnographic study examines the relationships between cultural commodities and identity formation in a Jamaican rural locale. This study represents 24 months of participant observation, participant interviews and artifact analysis in St. Thomas, Jamaica. This study provides analytic descriptions of how identity development is experienced by youth in St. Thomas during the era of Gaza vs. Gully. Chapter one outlines the statement of the problem and the research questions. Chapter two frames the literature and theoretical frameworks utilized in the study. The methodology of the study and the case for the utilization of ethnography is explained in Chapter three. The social, cultural, and political context of St. Thomas as well as the Gaza vs. Gully era is discussed in Chapter four along with the introduction of the four main participants of the study. Chapter five utilizes examples and experiences from the lives of the four main participants to analyze the features of identity development in this specific “time and space”. Conclusions about and implications of the data from the participant observation presented will continue to be addressed in Chapter six. The study’s findings should interest anthropologists focused on popular culture, globalization, and development as well as educational researchers who seek to understand the role cultural commodities play in identity formation and the conceptualization of youth cultures. ii For my girls. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................... ii LIST OF PHOTOGRAPHS AND ILLUSTRATIONS ............................................................. vi CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................. 1 Introducing the Gaza vs. Gully Era ................................................................................................ 1 Statement of the Problem ................................................................................................................ 6 Purpose of the Study and Research Questions ..................................................................... 10 Significance of the Study ............................................................................................................... 10 Theoretical and Conceptual Framework ................................................................................ 12 CHAPTER 2 REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE................................................................... 17 Jamaican Cultural History ............................................................................................................ 17 Jamaican Youth as Imagined Community ............................................................................... 27 The Global City 3.0 .......................................................................................................................... 28 Anthropology of Development and Globalization ............................................................... 30 Global Youth Identity Development ......................................................................................... 32 Caribbean Dancehall Culture ...................................................................................................... 34 Conceptualizing Resistance ......................................................................................................... 36 CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHODS .................................................................................... 37 Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 37 Scope/Bounds of the Study .......................................................................................................... 37 Pilot Study .......................................................................................................................................... 40 Change in Concentration ............................................................................................................... 41 Project Timeline .............................................................................................................................. 43 Sampling and Procedure ............................................................................................................... 43 Phase I: Unstructured Community-based Participant Observation (4 months) ............... 45 Phase II: Intimate Participant Observation (20 Months) ........................................................... 46 Method in the Field ......................................................................................................................... 48 Research Site – St. Thomas, Jamaica ......................................................................................... 51 Solicitation of Study Participants .............................................................................................. 52 Participant Compensation ........................................................................................................... 52 Data Confidentiality ........................................................................................................................ 53 Data Analysis ..................................................................................................................................... 54 Role as Researcher .......................................................................................................................... 54 CHAPTER 4 ENVIRONMENT AND PARTICIPATION ..................................................... 57 Gavin, Deborah, Vivine and Maga Man: Introductions ....................................................... 58 Gavin ................................................................................................................................................................. 59 Deborah ........................................................................................................................................................... 60 Vivine ................................................................................................................................................................ 61 Maga Man ........................................................................................................................................................ 62 Bullet, Bullet!! Dancehall Baptism by fire (literally) at Reggae Sumfest ..................... 64 St. Thomas Jamaica: A historically rural place with an unquestioned tie to the Urban ................................................................................................................................................... 66 Historiography of Gaza vs. Gully Feud ..................................................................................... 71 Vybz Kartel’s Gaza ....................................................................................................................................... 71 Mavado’s Gully ............................................................................................................................................. 72 Gaza and Gully Differences ...................................................................................................................... 72 iv Gaza vs. Gully Timeline ............................................................................................................................. 73 CHAPTER 5 YOUTH IDENTITY AND CULTURAL COMMODITIES............................. 79 Identifying an Imagined Community ........................................................................................ 81 Badges.................................................................................................................................................. 85 Bullets .................................................................................................................................................. 89 Experiences of Commodification and Identity Development .......................................... 91 Experiences of Structuration ...................................................................................................... 96 Gavin: Marking Gaza at Home and on the Road.............................................................................. 96 Deborah: Occupying Multiple Social Positions ............................................................................... 97 Experiences of Disembedding and Duality ............................................................................ 98 Examples of Difference Making: Defining self vs. other .................................................. 101 CHAPTER 6 INTERSECTIONALITY, IMPLICATIONS, AND POSITIONALITY ...... 102 Recognizing youth identity development